


How Many Ninja Are in Love With You?

by rhodrymavelyne



Category: Naruto
Genre: F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-23
Updated: 2015-06-23
Packaged: 2018-04-05 18:41:51
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,939
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4190799
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rhodrymavelyne/pseuds/rhodrymavelyne
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Naruto is feeling grumpy about how girls always fawn all over Sasuke. Sasuke retorts that Naruto is much more popular than him. He names six ninja that were in love with Naruto, getting a different reaction with each name.</p>
            </blockquote>





	How Many Ninja Are in Love With You?

**Author's Note:**

> Despite the headers above, this is pretty much all Sasunaru. The other pairings are brought into this by Sasuke. You can judge for yourself how much the other pairings apply by how Naruto reacts to each one of them.

“It makes me so jealous!” Naruto grumbled, as he walked beside Sasuke. All the girls in the tea house they’d just left were gawking at them. Or rather at Sasuke. “Why are you so popular with girls?”

Sasuke sighed. Fortunately, the road was taking them away from civilization. There was nothing, but trees and empty fields, where they were heading. “They’re just reacting to my looks,” he said, giving Naruto a sideways glance. “I’m not nearly as popular as you are.”

“What?” Naruto asked, his mouth gaping. “What makes you think I’m more popular?”

The next sigh Sasuke let out was almost a growl. “Do you know how many ninja are in love with you?” The question was decidedly grumpy. “I sometimes think you should start a harem, or a private fan club!”

“Eh?” Naruto’s blue eyes widened. “Ninja in love with me?! Name one!”  
“I’ll do better than that,” Sasuke said, stopping in his tracks. He moved to the side of the road, next to a huge tree. There was no one in sight. He held up a hand. “I’ll name six.” His mouth twisted, as if it was trying to smile. Instead, it grimaced. “Believe me, when I say, this is only a fraction of the people in love with you. Perhaps only a fraction of the ninja.”

“I don’t believe you!” Naruto said, meaning every word. Images of Sakura, smiling, flirting, throwing herself at the boy she liked flashed through his mind, like a reel of film. It had never been him. “Name one!”

Sasuke ticked off the first of his five fingers. “Hinata,” he said, giving Naruto a very pointed look. 

Heat rushed to Naruto’s face. “How did you know?” he spluttered. “I only just found out about that!”

“Please!” Sasuke said, with almost withering scorn. “It’s been painfully obvious for years!”

“All right, but Hinata is only one person, and a gloomy one at that. Although she can be really beautiful, when she sets her mind to something…” Naruto stopped talking at the look on Sasuke’s face. “Anyway, you said you knew of six. Name another!”

“Shino,” Sasuke said, ticking off a second finger. 

“Whaat?!” Naruto yelpled. He looked nervously at his ankles, as if he expected bugs to start crawling up his pant legs in an amorous way. “How? Why? When?” He shivered a bit at the sight of a gnat flying by. “I know I never gave him any encouragement-“

“-or attention. Which he badly wants from you,” Sasuke said, shaking his head, as if he pitied Shino. “Perhaps Hinata’s crush on you was contagious?”

“Are you saying all of Team Eight is in love with me?” Naruto said, looking a bit panicked. 

“Perhaps,” Sasuke said. As the blood drained from Naruto’s face, he added, “I’m not sure about Kiba, though.” 

Naruto gulped, not sure if he should be flattered, or terrified. “Even if the entire team was, it’s still not ‘many ninja’.”

“Kiba wasn’t among the ninja I was going to name,” Sasuke said. He ticked off a third finger. “Neji was.”

Neji. Naruto looked down at his feet, swallowed the lump in his throat. “He died protecting me,” he muttered. “He said I set him free from the cage destiny had trapped him in.”

“You do that a lot,” Sasuke said. His voice was much softer, more gentle. “Neji isn’t the only person you freed from their destiny, or who felt grateful to you for doing it.”

Blue green eyes, heavily lidded from lack of sleep, for years, blinked slowly at him in Naruto’s mind. “Gaara,” he said, still not looking up. 

“Definitely one of the six,” Sasuke said. His voice was soft, but his gaze had hardened, as if he, too, was visualizing Gaara. Sasuke and Gaara had not always been on the best of terms. Gaara had once stalked Sasuke as his next ‘prey’, to kill in order to make himself feel alive. Naruto had only just managed to stop him, forming an unbreakable bond with Gaara in the process. It was almost as strong as his bond with Sasuke. “He’s happier than he’s ever been, thanks to you. I doubt he’ll ever forget that.”

“This list of yours doesn’t include Bushy Brows, does it?” Naruto asked, changing the subject rapidly. It made him uncomfortable, talking about Gaara around Sasuke. He wasn’t sure why. “Last I checked, he was still in love with Sakura-chan.”

“I’m sure he still thinks he is. Lee is much like you in that respect,” Sasuke said. All the softness went out of his voice, as his mouth turned down. “Busy convincing himself he’s in love with Sakura and I’m the only thing standing in the way of his happiness.” The words were bitter.

“Sasuke,” Naruto said. The name came out in a whisper. “You are my happiness.”

Sasuke stared at him, as if he wasn’t sure he’d heard right. Naruto felt his face heating up, as the implications of what he’d said sank in. 

“Um, I mean, well, that’s only four people!” Naruto stammered, wondering if he could take the words back. A traitorous part of him was glad he couldn’t. “Hardly many!”

A smile was creeping over Sasuke’s face. A pretty smile, actually, rather than the twisted grimace he’d worn earlier. Naruto was very glad to see it.

Wait, had he just thought that Sasuke’s smile was pretty?!

“Well,” Sasuke said, sounding like he was in a better mood than he’d been. “There’s also that leather clad himbo you dragged along to help save me from Orochimaru.”

“Will you knock it off?” Naruto growled. Great. Sai thought Sasuke was a homo whore. Sasuke thought Sai was a himbo. “Give Sai a break! He hasn’t worn anything worse than you have! Especially when you were with Orochimaru!”

“Like hell!” Sasuke’s smile disappeared. He glared at Naruto. “Nothing I wear is as trashy as that himbo’s outfit!”

The two of them stood, glowering at each other. The heat between Sasuke and Naruto was a palpable thing. 

“If I didn’t know better,” Naruto said, slowly, swallowing. It would be only too easy for this heat to turn into something else. “I’d think you were jealous.”

“Should I be?” Sasuke countered. There was an odd hunger in his eyes, as his gaze moved over Naruto’s face, traveling the length of his body. 

“Why do you care?” Naruto demanded. If his face got any hotter, his head would explode. “If there was something between me and Sai, why would you be jealous?”

Sasuke took a step forward, closing the gap between them. Before Naruto could protest, yell at him, or do anything, Sasuke took him in his arms.

For one moment, Naruto froze. Sasuke seized that moment to lean forward and kiss him. Naruto stiffened, before his lips parted. His arms reached up, pulling Sasuke closer, almost crushing the other boy against his body. 

It was a couple of minutes, before either of them came up for air. Sasuke and Naruto parted, at the exact same moment. Gasping, backing away, they stared at each other.

“Which brings me to number six,” Sasuke said. The naked vulnerability in his dark eyes made Naruto want to take him in his arms again, even as he contemplated fleeing in terror. “Me.”

“Sasuke,” Naruto whispered, closing his eyes, again. “I don’t swing that way.” The words sounded feeble in his own ears.

“And I don’t swing,” Sasuke said, with a humorless grin. “Yet here we are.”  
He turned back to the path and started walking.

Naruto watched him walk. His lips moved soundlessly.

“Oh, by the way,” Sasuke said, stopping a short distance away. “I could have made it seven. And yes, the seventh person is the one you truly wanted on the list. The one that thinks she’s in love with me.” Sasuke didn’t turn around, as he spoke. “Sakura is really in love with you. She just doesn’t realize it, yet.”

“What?” The question came out as a choked whisper.

“I thought, when I left Konoha, you and Sakura would get together.” Naruto couldn’t see Sasuke’s face, but he could hear the bitter smile in his words. “It seemed like the most natural thing in the world that the two of you would become a couple. You were crazy about her. It was only a matter of time, before she fell in love with you.”

“Do you think you’re that easy to forget?” The question came out in a low growl of Naruto’s own. 

“I think anyone who gets to know you will fall in love with you, for all your faults and stupidity. Just like I did.” There was a terrible sadness to the backhanded compliment. “When you and Sakura didn’t fall into each other’s arms, it gave me hope. Hope that you felt the same way as me, deep down.” A harsh, pained laugh escaped from Sasuke. It was almost a choked sob. “Guess I’m the real complete idiot.” 

Sasuke made a half turn. The hurt look he gave Naruto was as arrogant as any expression that had ever crossed Uchiha Sasuke’s face. “Even if you feel the same way, you lack the guts to do anything about it.”

“So you’re just giving up on me?!” Naruto snarled. Anger was building up in him, as hot as Kyubei’s wrath. He marched over to Sasuke. “You say you love me and this is the best you can do?!” He grabbed the front of Sasuke’s shirt. “That’s weak!”

“What?!” Sasuke demanded, glaring at Naruto, shocked out of his misery. 

“For three years, I’ve been chasing after you! No, all my life, I’ve been chasing after you! I’ve devoted my heart and soul to you!” Naruto screamed, shaking Sasuke. “It’s amazing I’ve been able to see anybody else, even Sakura-chan! All I’ve been able to see is you!”

No, it wasn’t entirely true. Naruto could see other people, often only too clearly. He loved Sakura-chan, Hinata, Sai, Gaara, all his friends, his village. He’d loved Neji and every friend he’d ever had. Perhaps Naruto had fallen a little in love with all of these people. Perhaps his friends felt the same way. He wasn’t going to apologize for any of it. Naruto had fought hard for every single bond he’d ever had.

However, it was mostly true. No matter where Naruto went, or who he met, Sasuke had been in his heart. The thought of Sasuke had been what pushed him, giving him strength, every step along his road to becoming a ninja. A better, stronger, wiser ninja. 

Sasuke didn’t struggle. He stared at Naruto, silently. His hands came up to clasp Naruto’s own. Only this time, he didn’t push them away. 

“Are you really going to give up on me?” Naruto asked. The question came out half choked. “I’d never give up on you.”

Sasuke’s hands released Naruto’s own. They seized Naruto’s face, instead, bringing it close to his own. 

Their kiss was as fierce as any jitsu they’d hurled at each other, yet it felt so right. Naruto found himself wondering why he’d struggled against this for so long. Guess there were shortcomings to not believing in easy paths.

Slowly, reluctantly, they backed away from each other. Naruto grinned.

“What’s so funny?” Sasuke demanded, but he was smiling, too. The pretty smile was back. Naruto was happy to see it return. 

“Guess I like it rough, but you do, too,” Naruto said, shaking his head. “That’s why it’s taken us so long to do this.”

“I thought you didn’t swing that way,” Sasuke said, his eyebrow raised.

“Oh, please!” Naruto said. His grin widened. “I’m so over that!”


End file.
